What to Expect From the Halo Franchise in 2025

Posted by By our-little-miss-is-home January 9, 2025 2 Views 12 Min Read
What to Expect From the Halo Franchise in 2025

2024 was a momentous year for Xbox’s flagship Halo franchise and Halo Infinite. 343 Industries was restructured into Halo Studios with the next Halo game announced to be powered by the Unreal Engine, the second season of Paramount’s Halo show was released and was subsequently canceled thereafter, Master Chief briefly returned to Fortnite, Halo 3: ODST celebrated its 15th anniversary, Halo 2 celebrated its 20th anniversary, and Halo Infinite had a new weapon added in the form of the MA5K Avenger. While 2024 may have had some low points and some high points for the Halo franchise, fans of the near-24-year-old sci-fi universe can expect more exciting things to come to Halo in 2025.

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Throughout 2024, Halo Waypoint published several Waypoint Chronicles online, which are short audio dramas exploring other parts of the Halo universe beyond the Master Chief. These ranged from introducing the first Banished Spartan Ilsa Zane, exploring the mind of a Promethean Knight, and even giving a narrative to an imprisoned Elite Councilor seen in Halo 2. Community Writer Alex Wakeford has assured fans that more Waypoint Chronicles will be published in 2025, but the subjects of these stories are currently unknown. However, a few of them may focus on the rising threat of Venezian super soldiers as several past Chronicles have slowly increased focus on that plot in 2024, such as ONI Agent Veronica Dare learning more about how these super soldiers are made.

Beyond Waypoint Chronicles, Halo fans can expect at least one Halo novel to be released in 2025, along with a potential second unknown book currently being written by veteran Halo book author Kelly Gay. On February 18th, Halo: Empty Throne will hit bookshelves and digital platforms written by former lead writer for the Halo franchise, Jeremy Patenaude. Set sometime during the six months after the UNSC Infinity’s defeat at Zeta Halo in 2559, Empty Throne will focus on a new conflict between the UNSC, The Created, and The Banished as they attempt to gain control of the omnipresent Precursor-made Domain. Meanwhile, a new, ruthless Banished warrior will be introduced in Empty Throne, vying for leadership and to gain a foothold in the chaotic galaxy.

The Potential Impact of Halo: Empty Throne

Halo: Empty Throne’s official description is fairly vague on what events or characters fans will see in this new novella. However, during the Community Stage at the 2024 Halo World Championship, 343 Industries revealed that several fan-favorite characters will appear in Empty Throne including Atriox, Escharum, Admiral Lord Hood, Spartan 2 Gray Team, Rtas ‘Vadum, and the “Didact’s Hand” Sali ‘Nyon from the Halo: Escalation comics. While Infinite’s campaign primarily centered on Master Chief, Empty Throne may explain what was happening in the rest of the galaxy beyond Zeta Halo. Empty Throne could set up how remaining UNSC and Swords of Sanghelios forces can aid Master Chief in Halo 7 after struggling to fight a three-pronged war between the Banished, Created, and Covenant forces following Cortana’s death.

New Updates to Halo Infinite in 2025

Halo Infinite received its third and potentially final Winter 2024-2025 update in the form of Operation Brute Force, running from January 7th till February 4th. Here, players will be able to complete another free 20-tire Operation Pass featuring more Brute-esque Spartan armor, with one set in particular based on the armor of Spartan Killer Tovarus from Infinite’s campaign. Players will additionally be able to play the classic Capture the Flag gametype variant Castle Wars in Infinite’s official multiplayer with Action Sack coming later in January. Infinite will likely receive a new Operation in February to possibly kick off the game’s spring 2025 season, which may bring some long-desired assets to official multiplayer.

In late 2024, in coordination with Halo 2’s 20th Anniversary celebration, Halo Studios released Halo Infinite’s second new weapon in the form of the MA5K Avenger carbine. However, prior to the MA5K’s official reveal, leakers found the MA5K along with several unreleased assets in Infinite’s files. These included the gravity hammer-bayoneted double-barrel shotgun, the Mutilator, the Covenant Fuel Rod Cannon, and the Falcon UNSC air vehicle from Halo: Reach. With the MA5K having already been added to Infinite, these new weapons and vehicle could soon be added to the game some time later in 2025. Since the Fuel Rod Cannon’s model in Infinite is currently based on Halo 5: Guardians’ iteration of the weapon, it could be added in a celebratory October update.

Halo Infinite’s Potential Halo 5: Guardians 10th Anniversary Update

On October 27, Halo 5: Guardians will officially turn 10 years old, having only been released on Xbox consoles, with Halo 5: Forge releasing on Windows 10 in 2016. While Halo 5 wasn’t universally praised, its campaign and multiplayer does have its fans and Halo Studios could celebrate the game’s 10th anniversary by introducing a Halo 5 update in October. This new update could be structured similarly to the Halo 2 update, with Master Chief’s GEN2 armor and a GEN2 armor core being made available, featuring armor of Blue Team and Fireteam Osiris at least. Halo Waypoint could additionally publish a new Waypoint chronicle detailing the status of Spartans Locke and Tanaka as they have received the least amount of follow-up after Halo 5’s release.

After Halo 5: Guardians’ release, Spartan Buck’s story continued in Halo: Bad Blood and Halo: Venezian Sonata, while Spartan Vale’s story continued in Halo: Outcasts, but Spartan Locke has only been mentioned briefly in Halo Infinite’s campaign.

New Halo Game Announcements in 2025

Throughout 2024, more and more rumors popped up suggesting that 343 Industries may be working on a Halo: Combat Evolved remake. These rumors were seemingly confirmed when 343 Industries rebranded itself to Halo Studios and announced that it would develop the next game in Unreal Engine 5, showing off the engine’s capabilities with new animations of Master Chief in his GEN1 Mark 5 armor. Since then, rumors have continued, suggesting that this Combat Evolved remake could even release on the PlayStation 5 simultaneously with Xbox consoles and that it would kick off a series of remakes of the original Halo trilogy. Despite these rumors, no official announcement has been made yet on what the next mainline Halo game may be or when it could be released.

Despite the rumors and hints toward a Halo: Combat Evolved remake, Halo Studios could still be developing Halo 7 as a sequel to Halo Infinite’s campaign. Infinite ended with Atriox awakening the Endless, Offensive Bias being brought online, and Master Chief still stranded on Zeta Halo with many fans clamoring to find out what happens next. Halo Studios may be developing games akin to Gears of War’s The Coalition with that company developing a game set in their franchise’s past and continuing where the story left off in the future. If the Combat Evolved rumors are true, the remake may come out first with Halo 7 being the following game Halo Studios develops.

When to Expect New Halo Game Announcements

Halo Infinite was first officially announced at E3 2018, three years after Halo 5’s release. Given that Halo Infinite will turn four years old in late 2025, this year would be the perfect time to at least officially announce the next Halo game. 2026 will additionally mark the Halo franchise’s 25th anniversary and, if Halo Studios wants to release a new Halo game on such a momentous anniversary, it will have to begin marketing the game at some point in 2025. A new Halo game, whether it be a Halo: Combat Evolved Remake or Halo 7, could be officially announced at a 2025 Xbox Showcase in June, similar to how Gears of War: E-Day was announced during the 2024 Xbox Showcase.

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